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Bloodlines Stage 1
The Ruins of the Castle Dracula is the first stage in Castlevania: Bloodlines. It takes place in Romania. __TOC__ Overview The adventure begins with our hero, either John or Eric, staring in the distance at the ruins of Castle Dracula from the outyard's entrance. A few inoffensive Ravens bid them welcome as they make their way in, one of which feasts on a rotting corpse. Once inside, an almost exact replica from the first level of Castlevania has to be traversed. The place is infested by Zombies, same as it was in the first game, which get dismembered in a pile of blood and gore as they are slain. After passing through the first door, the entrance to the underground waterway can be found. In this room, a Spell book power-up can be collected by destroying the cracked wall near the staircase. While John is forced to traverse the underground path, Eric may skip it entirely by mega jumping to the segment of hallway above. The waterway is a small area that consists in an endless horde of Fish Men and three Flaming Skulls attempting to stop our heroes. The Fish Men should be dispatched quickly, though, lest they populate the area and incessantly start shooting water streams from their mouths. Fortunately, a Mirror of Truth can be found in one of the candles at the middle, which will vanquish all enemies onscreen and give our heroes some breathing room while they attempt to reach the staircase that will take them out of that place. Things change a little from the first game in the next section. After disposing of a few Vampire Bats, near the middle of the corridor the background music will abruptly change and a new threat will appear in the form of a miniboss: Cerberus. The fiend will attack by breathing a stream of flames from its mouth, followed by letting out a terrifying howling that will shatter the picture window in the background; the glass shards that fall from it will damage the player should they make contact. The creature is not very resilient, though, and will die in just a few attacks in a rather unconventional way, with its upper body exploding in a mass of flesh and exposing what appears to be a spiked metal ball underneath, ultimately leaving this existence whilst getting engulfed in blue magical flames. The next section consists in a torture chamber of sorts, with mutilated bodies hanging from strange devices and blood literally dripping from the ceilings. Some rather grotesque attractions form part of the scenery here, like a giant grinding machine crushing the bodies of many former hapless victims, and two giant skeletal torsos swinging a moon-shaped bladed pendulum. Skeletons, Vampire Bats, and Pillars of Bones are the main enemies encountered in these areas. Moving out of that place, our hero must now actually walk along the gigantic skeletal remains of a dragon. The structure will start to crumble as soon as he steps upon it, so he must make haste and not dwindle for a second, lest he falls to his doom. It's worth making an effort in destroying the candle that is in the middle, though, as it contains a 1up. The music drastically changes to "Nothing to Lose" in the next section, and the scenery changes back to a more familiar layout. A Skele-Dragon welcomes our heroes in the first screen, followed by the characteristic long staircase that usually leads to Dracula's chambers suspended high in the sky. After traversing a long hallway, our heroes in fact arrive to what's left of the vampire's chamber, with the whole room, including his coffin, completely in ruins. Dracula is nowhere to be found, though, but a new threat soon approaches in the form of this stage's end boss: the Armor Battler. Armed with a battle axe and a lance, and relying on its innate resilience, it makes use of a variety of attacks and jumps in an attempt to stop our heroes... or at least to buy Elizabeth some time while she keeps on traveling all throughout Europe in her quest to resurrect her uncle. Enemy Data Category:Castle Entrances Category:Dungeons Category:Ruins Category:Bloodlines Locations